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Human beings always had a fascination for the skies. It was quite long back, really back in time when the first person stared at the s...

4/13/2014

Human beings always had a fascination for the skies. It was quite long back, really back in time when the first person stared at the sky with awe and wonder. Since then, this hobby of looking into the dark skies for other stars, planets, and celestial objects have been popularly summarized in a word known to us as “astronomy”. Astronomy is not just scanning the skies- it is much more than that. In this brief essay I will be writing about why I love astronomy, and the endless possibilities it creates for the youth community.

I got my first telescope at the age of seven, a sixty millimeter aperture Celestron TravelScope model. It was good, not quite bad, for a novice astronomer. It was satisfactorily good but it did not quench my thirst for exploring more and more. At the age of ten, I got a Celestron NexStar 102SLT gifted to me. It had a better mount, and the auto-tracking software made things even better. I started out by looking at the planets in our solar system- Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn. It was, and still is rewarding to get a view of the planets, regardless of how many times I have already spotted them. The space has been the greatest mystery for many of us. Astronomy captures the essence of it all in itself.

Astronomy hides everyday values in itself. I love astronomy for its masked presence among us all. I love astronomy, because it enables and encourages us to look beyond ourselves. In fact, we can even derive a moral value from this. In today’s world, we are self-centered, and we care for ourselves, and forget to take care of others. Astronomy helps us to look at things with a different perspective, and helps us to observe objects with details veiled to the naked eye. Comparing this to the world at present, people pay least attention to minor details and the observation power is, let’s say, not there at all. Astronomy is not boring- it is one of the best hobbies. It doesn’t require anything else other than patience- another virtue worth cultivating. Astronomy also provides us with opportunities. One of the fundamental theories of the universe is that it is rapidly expanding. As such, new objects and stars are being formed and I believe there are still millions of stars, planets, asteroids and other celestial objects yet to be named. Budding astronomers like me, who are enthusiastic about their hobby can advance a step further and build custom telescopes to get better views, discover these new objects and name them. In this way, they can earn some money and they will earn fame as well.

Astronomy as a topic is too vast to be explained. The heavens, what we call as the universe, in mythological stories is depicted as the home of the Gods. Truly, it is so. Astronomical observations are a must for progressive society. For, without it, we would be left incomplete.